Sunday, 8 July 2012

This is a very rare LP from an Indian label called "A Treasure from
Solomon's Mines". According to the liner notes the date of publication is 1956.
The label apparently published in the second half of the 1950s a couple of LPs
(the very first LPs published in India), for example in 1957 one by Ram Narayan
(SME 3/4).
There had been in the internet already links to download this
record, but unfortunately with very poor sound quality. The files we present
here are from a broken LP, which a friend was able to restore. The result is
much more satisfying then the files found in the internet. There are still some
cracks, but otherwise the music has good sound quality.

Wednesday, 4 July 2012

Hirabai Barodekar (1905-1989) was one of the two great ladies of the Kirana Gharana, the other one being Roshan Ara Begum from Pakistan. We will post next an LP by her. Hirabai Barodekar, the daughter of Abdul Karim Khan, studied under her uncle Abdul Waheed Khan and her talented brother the late Sureshbabu Mane.

Sunday, 1 July 2012

Hassan Kassa'i, the great Iranian master of the Ney, passed away on 14 June 2012.

Hassan Kassa'i was born on 25 September 1928 in Isfahan, Iran, and died on 14 June
2012 (aged 83) in his home town Isfahan. He was considered the greatest master
of the Iranian Ney, an end-blown reedflute, of the century. He started learning the Ney from
Mehdi Navai at the age of 12. He also learnt the basics of traditional Persian
music and the Radif from master Abolhassan Saba. As he was an exceptional
improviser, his performances always sounded fresh. Amongst his best students are
Mohammad Mousavi and Hossein Omoumi.

In the last ten years more then
15 CDs of his music have been published in Iran, some with recordings from the
1960s or early 1970s, some with recent recordings. They can be obtained from: info@raga-maqam-dastgah.com
See also his website: http://www.kassaimusic.ir